A Redhead's Lunch
by SonicLover
Summary: Does milk make you drowsy? Are the bag lunches one of your friends' mothers prepares really that bad? In a case like this, both answers might be in the affirmative. Read for details. FINISHED
1. Another Day

08:03 AM - SUBURBS

A man sat down to eat breakfast. He got a milk carton out of the refrigerator, and poured himself a glass of milk. It's a typical morning, right?  
Well, after one sip of the milk, the man collapsed on the floor, asleep. No matter how hard his wife tried, nothing could wake him.  
This isn't the kind of milk that you would want to put in …  
-  
A Redhead's Lunch

Author's note: I should probably stop coming up with these original stories and write an episode for a change. Nah.

-  
Chapter 1: Another Day  
-  
11:58 PM - BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA  
The girls and I sat together at one table. Sam didn't seem too happy.

Alex was the first to ask the inevitable question: "What's wrong, Sam?"  
"My mom packed me a bag lunch today," Sam explained. "She hasn't done that in a while, and she's forgotten why. I haven't, though. It's because she's a horrible cook."

Clover tried to comfort her. "Come on, Sam. At least she tries. That shows you that she cares about you."  
"If she REALLY cared about me, she'd let me get cafeteria food. I mean what I say; the lunch she packed me is completely inedible."  
"I'll believe that when I see it," Alex countered.

Sam took out the contents of her lunch box. "Look at my lunch: a thermos of soup so spicy that one spoonful causes fire breath, homemade crackers that an elephant can't break, a health drink stickier than glue, and for dessert, gelatin so rubbery it'll bounce your fork and knife right out of your hands."

I cocked my head to one side. "You remind me of Jerry passing out our gadgets."

Clover blinked. "Nobody's that bad a cook."  
"My mother is," Sam responded as he packed her lunch back in her lunch box and hooked it to her belt. "I can't eat this stuff for lu-"

The sentence could possibly have been finished right then and there, and it would have been, had we not been WOOHP'd at that point. (You're probably wondering whether all that wordiness was necessary.)

Next thing we knew, we were in a heap on top of each other in the WOOHP mission briefing room. Sam's lunch box was still clipped to her belt. I fetched my pencil, which was on top of the box.  
Jerry approached us. "Leo was right, Sam. When you talked about your lunch, you did sound a bit like me. But that's not relevant right now. It's time for a mission."

The monitor provided visual aid as Jerry continued speaking. "A mysterious phenomenon has swept the nation. Drinkers of milk have suddenly and spontaneously fallen asleep, and not woken up for days."  
"And it's our job to investigate?" Alex deduced.  
"Exactly. You have to figure out who or what is causing this to happen. On my desk here is the address of one victim you should visit. You might be able to obtain some information."

Jerry bent over to pick up a piece of paper, but when he tried to straighten up again, his back didn't cooperate. "Ouch! Darn these cramps. Age must be starting to catch up with me. Now, if you'll walk this way, I'll show you to your jet."  
As Jerry started to lead us out of the room, he looked at us. I was bent over just like he was.  
There was a silence, which Jerry broke. "Leo, when I said walk this way, I didn't mean walk that way. Your sense of humor can be annoying at times."

After we were gone, Jerry needed a well-aimed kick from a WOOHP employee to straighten up. He then glanced at us through a window as we left.  
"Good luck, spies. I have high hopes in you. … Why do I have a sinking feeling that I forgot something important, though? … Gee, can't think of it. Maybe I'm just overworked. I'd better take a few hours off."

Any die-hard Totally Spies fan should realize in an instant just what Jerry forgot. For those of you who aren't die-hard Totally Spies fans, Jerry had forgotten to give us our gadgets.  
-  
I've actually been thinking for a while about this concept. The spies got along well enough without their gadgets in the episode "Vacation", how badly can they do here?

Uh … don't answer that last question. 


	2. Let me get this straight

A Redhead's Lunch

Author's note: Now that I'm done with "Trouble on Toy Island", I can focus on other stories, like this one. Heh.

-  
Chapter 2: Let me get this straight  
-

12:28 PM - A HOUSE IN THE SUBURBS  
"Let me get this straight, Emily," Alex asked a woman. "Your husband drank some milk, and fell asleep immediately?"  
"That's right," Emily explained. "I don't understand it; milk doesn't usually make him drowsy. Feel free to look around."

As we searched the room, Sam found a carton of milk in the fridge. "Emily, is this the milk he drank before nodding off?"  
"Yes. Why?"  
"Where did you get it?"  
"I got it from the Super Smith's Supermarket."  
We knew where to go next.

SUPER SMITH'S SUPERMARKET  
I took a carton of milk from the dairy shelf and looked it over. "This is just like the carton from Emily's house," I mentioned. "Let's see if there's anything we can find out about it."

Clover took the carton and took it to the information desk. "Excuse me, can you tell me-"  
The man behind the desk interrupted Clover. "If you're planning on buying that milk, woman, I'd suggest otherwise. All our customers are complaining about that brand of milk."  
"What?"  
"Trust me on this one. Don't buy Emma's Farm-Fresh Morning Milk."

We huddled around Clover. Sam took another look at the carton. "Hey, it says here that Emma's Farm-Fresh Morning Milk is made in a factory in Idaho. Here's the address. Let's investigate."

01:10 PM - IDAHO - EMMA'S MILK AND COFFEE  
We hid behind a warehouse building and surveyed the area. One window of the factory was open, but it was on the third floor.  
"There's no way to climb up there," Alex decided as she looked at the window. "Looks like the use of one of our gadgets is in order."  
Sam nodded. "Say, what gadgets did Jerry give us? For some reason, I can't remember."  
"Yeah, neither do I."  
Clover and I couldn't remember either, so we checked our gadget packs. We didn't have them.

We all gasped, and realized the same thing at the same time: "JERRY FORGOT TO GIVE US OUR GADGETS!"

I opened my DS and dialed Jerry's number. Since he was on break, I got his answering machine. "Hello, you've reached Jerry. I can't answer right now, so please leave a message. Thank you."  
"Hey, Jerry," I said, "it's me, Leo. The girls and I wanted to say hi, and I'd like to remind you that YOU NEVER GAVE US OUR GADGETS, YOU DUMMY, YOU! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET THIS MISSION COMPLETED WITHOUT THEM?"

"Leo," Clover said to me as I closed my DS, "wasn't that a little harsh>"  
"He forgot to give us our gadgets," I reminded Clover. "Would you have done anything different?"

Sam glanced at us. "Well, without our gadgets, we're going to have a hard time getting up there. If only we had a springboard, or something …"  
Or something? My face brightened in an instant. "Sam, do you still have your lunch box with you?"  
"Yeah," Sam responded, showing it to us. "But what's that have to do with-"

Sam's sentence remained unfinished as I snatched Sam's lunch box and opened it. I fumbled around until I found the gelatin that her mother had made her.  
I winked at Sam as I placed the big wiggly dessert on the ground in front of the window. I then took a running start and jumped onto it. BE-YOING! I was bounced clear up to the window. The girls followed suit.  
-  
You can already see that Sam's lunch is coming in handy, eh? Well, stay tuned! 


	3. Gulp

A Redhead's Lunch

Author's note: When I made that last chapter, it was after 9 in the evening where I live. Maybe that has something to do with why my faithful reviewer Mat hasn't submitted a review for it yet. He lives three time zones ahead of me. Or three time zones behind me. I don't know which. I'm a little rusty on time zones.

-  
Chapter 3: Gulp  
-

01:14 AM - EMMA'S MILK AND COFFEE  
We were all inside the factory now. Many gears churned around us. Something white - milk, probably - was dripping from pipes on the ceiling.  
"Looks like nothing unusual," Sam said as she looked around.

I spotted a machine dumping some kind of powder into a vat. "Hey, girls, something looks strange over at that vat. Let's look."

We climbed up to the catwalk that circled the edge of the vat. As the powder fell into the vat, which was full of milk, it dissolved. A pipe then carried the milk out of the vat.

Milk dripped from the pipe. On a hunch, Alex climbed down and caught one of the drips in her mouth. "Doesn't seem like that powder has any … any …" She collapsed.  
We rushed over to Alex. There was no questioning it: she was asleep. "Looks like Emma's Farm-Fresh Morning Milk has taken its effect," I commented. "Now, what do we do with her?"

Clover had an idea for waking Alex up. She removed the lid from a nearby garbage pail, snatched the pencil out of my ear, and used the two to make the loudest banging we had ever heard.  
I snatched my pencil back. Alex was so fast asleep that she had not even noticed the banging. Someone else, however, had.  
Two guards rushed into the room. "Hey, what's going on in here?"

Sam gasped. "Way to go, Clover. Let's get out of here!"

Clover had to carry Alex as we ran from the guards. We ran all over the place, around holding tanks and pipes, and over a few more catwalks.  
Finally, they had us cornered. We were at a dead end. Nowhere to run. The two guards approached us slowly.  
Fate smiled on us, however, as another drip of milk landed right in the mouth of one of the guards, and he fell asleep in an instant. The other guard tripped over him and dropped to the ground as well.

"I'm glad that worked out so well," I commented. "I mean, that was almost too easy."  
A trap door opened up at that point, dropping us down a long slide. We landed on a mattress that someone had placed there. That someone now approached us.

Clover asked the inevitable question: "Who are you?"  
"My name," she said, "is Emma. I'm the owner, CEO, and president of Emma's Milk and Coffee. And you are going to come with me." Several guards approached us.

"Ack!" "Yikes!" "Whoa!" "Zzzz …"  
-  
That's all for now. Shorter chapter than most, but a little chapter goes a long way! 


	4. Hanging Around

A Redhead's Lunch

Author's note: Yeah, your next chapter, but I'm worried that I'm not dragging this out more. I added a little something else to "Trouble on Toy Island", so check it out.  
And Mat, it was 5 minutes to 9 P.M. when the e-mail message about your review was delivered. My time zone is the New York City time zone.

-  
Chapter 4: Hanging Around  
-

01:20 PM - EMMA'S MILK AND COFFEE  
Next thing we knew, we were all tied to a crane hanging above a BIG vat of coffee. Clockwise as seen from above, there were Sam, Clover, me, and Alex (who didn't notice a thing, since she was still asleep).

"Okay, spill the beans, Emma," I yelled at the owner of EM&C. "What's the big deal with the milky sleeping potion stuff?"  
"Well," she explained, "it's like this. A few years ago, Emma's Milk and Coffee was very profitable. Excellent, even. Then, something happened that I would never forget.  
"None of the coffee I sell is ever decaffeinated. If it's decaffeinated, it isn't really coffee. Do you follow me?" We nodded.

"Well, the Governor didn't know that when he bought some decaf coffee mix from me. Of course, it wasn't decaf, so he couldn't get to sleep that night.  
"He blamed me, and forced me to close down EM&C for one year. At the end of that year, I-"

Clover interrupted Emma. "You were furious, and wanted revenge for closing your shop down, so you made milk that would put drinkers to sleep and never let them wake up. That right?"  
"Y-Yes, that's right. How did you know?"  
"That kind of thing isn't new to us. All sorts of villains have similar motives."  
"… Oh."

Sam spoke next. "Could you maybe explain why we're hanging over a vat of hot coffee?"  
"Simple. Right now, two of my guards are applying the hottest coffee I've got to the rope. In a matter of moments, it will burn through the rope, sending you to your death in that hot vat. Brilliant, huh?"  
I gave Emma a funny look. Alex was by now beginning to snore. Emma left, leaving us alone.

"I hope one of you has an idea," Clover said, "because otherwise we're about to find out what a doughnut feels like when I dunk it in my coffee!"  
"At least you have coffee and doughnuts," Sam retorted. "All I have is-"

An idea lit me up. I whispered in the ears of Sam and Clover. After a moment, they nodded. Sam was a little sore, however. "Leo, are you planning to replace my spot as team idea-getter?"  
I only smirked.

Clover reached the catches on Sam's lunch box and undid them. The lid popped open, and Sam's soup thermos fell out. Clover caught it on her foot and kicked it up into my hand.  
"Hey, Clover," Sam commented, "you should try out for the school soccer team with a kick like that!"

Meanwhile, I managed to get the thermos open and gulp down some soup. It was so spicy my tongue almost caught fire.  
I then puckered my lips and blew directly at the rope that bound my arms. Just as Sam had told us, my breath had become a burst of flame. The ropes were burnt straight through in a second.  
With the lightning-quick reflexes that a lifetime of video games had given me, I grabbed what remained of the rope while still holding the thermos, which I capped.

"Way to go, Leo!" Clover cheered. "Now, how about getting the rest of us?" She took the thermos, managed to get it back in Sam's lunch box, and latched the box shut.

I burnt Clover's rope the same way I burnt my own, and Clover dropped down and grabbed my ankle. I did the same with Sam, then Alex.  
Soon I was at the top of a four-person chain. Clover was hanging onto me, and Sam was hanging onto Clover while Alex was caught between Sam's legs.  
We began to swing back and forth. "Back!" I called. "Forth! Back! Forth!" I continued calling "Back!" and "Forth!" in rhythm.  
After a big swing, I followed my "Forth!" call by letting go, and we all landed in a heap on the ground.

"Leo, Clover," Sam told us, "go after Emma. I'll stay here and watch Alex."  
"Roger." "You got it." "Zzzzz …"  
-  
You probably wonder what's next. Don't blame you. 


	5. Action

A Redhead's Lunch

Author's note: Happy Mother's day! I wonder if there are any mothers reading this chapter. It's perfectly likely.  
And Mat, you were right, but why are you still talking about time zones?

-  
Chapter 5: Action  
-

01:24 PM - EMMA'S OFFICE  
Emma was filling out papers in her office. A guard knocked at the door. "Come in," Emma told him.

The guard entered. "Emma, ma'am, I just heard some strange back-forth-back-forth chanting from the Delta area."  
"The Delta area?" Emma responded. "That's where the captives are being held. They had better not be trying to escape."  
"How can we be TRYING to escape," a voice retaliated from the doorway, "when we already did?"

Both Emma and the guard gasped. They looked and saw Clover and myself. "You!" Emma cried out. "How did you two get out of my-"  
"That's not important right now," Clover silenced Emma. "What is important is kicking your butt all the way to Manhattan!"

Emma had other ideas. She hit a button on her desk, and escaped through a trap door. We followed her, and ended up in a refrigerator room where all the milk was kept cool before shipping.  
Two guards stood behind Emma. "So you came," she said. "Very well. I shall take you out and enjoy it."  
"That's my line," I countered. The battle commenced.

MEANWHILE  
Sam paced back and forth in front of Alex. "There's got to be some way to wake up Alex," she thought. "I just have to think of it. What would be a good waker-upper?"  
"Wait a second!" Sam suddenly came up with an idea. "I just remembered what Emma said about her coffee; she never decaffeinates it. Some of her coffee should do the job."

A smile on her face, Sam grabbed a coffee cup that a guard had been using, dunked it into the hot-coffee vat, and poured her retrieval into Alex's mouth.  
It did the job quite well. Alex woke with a start. "What happened?"  
"I'll explain later," Sam responded. She withdrew a cracker from her lunch box and stuck it between two gears, which promptly jammed and refused to turn.  
Sam handed Alex some crackers. "Go around the factory and use these to jam any other gears you see. I'll stay here."

MEANWHILE  
I aimed a kick at Emma's chin, but she ducked, and I fell to the ground. The pencil I've always got behind my ear escaped its spot, and Clover grabbed it and tried to stab one of the guards. She missed, and stabbed a milk carton instead. Milk flowed out like a fountain.  
I took this opportunity to knock the other guard to the ground. He landed perfectly under the milk spout, got some in his mouth, and was out like a candle before you could say, "Got Milk?"

Emma and the other guard, meanwhile, had fled. Clover and I chased after them, panting.  
When I began to fall behind, Clover called back to me. "Leo? Can't you run any faster?"  
"Run any faster?" I retorted. "What do I look like, Sonic the Hedgehog? I can only run so fast."

The chase continued all over the plant. We ran across catwalks, leaped over rivers of breakfast drinks, swung from light fixtures, and almost anything else you might be able to think of.  
The climax of the chase came when both the guard and Emma stepped on a puddle and got themselves stuck to the floor. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't escape.  
Sam stood on a catwalk above us. The thermos that held her health drink was open, and nearly empty. "Need a little help?"

I smirked. "Great thinking, Sam. I think we're tied for the role of team thinker. How's Alex?"  
"She's busy with the machines. Any second now they should be all jammed and unable to operate."

Clover, meanwhile, was using her compowder to call in WOOHP's capture team. They came in a matter of minutes, even without Jerry's approval.  
-  
One chapter away from completion, how do you like that? But I feel I'm going just a touch too fast. Oh well. Who needs quantity when you've got quality? 


	6. Mopping Up

A Redhead's Lunch

Author's note: Uh, Mat, didn't you mention time zones for chapters 3 and 4? Whatever. Let's finish this story.

-  
Chapter 6: Mopping Up  
-

01:30 PM - EMMA'S MILK AND COFFEE  
The WOOHP capture team arrived, and took Emma and all the other EM&C employees away. We advised them about how to reverse the effects of Emma's Milk and Coffee.

LATER AT WOOHP  
We arrived back just as Jerry was returning from his break. "Oh, hello, spies. I see you made it back from the mission okay. I- wait just a moment. I need to check my messages."  
Jerry opened his wallet. "Well, I have one message from Leo. I wonder what he wanted." I remained silent.

Beep. "Hey, Jerry. It's me, Leo. The girls and I wanted to say hi, and I'd like to remind you that YOU NEVER GAVE US OUR GADGETS, YOU DUMMY, YOU! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET THIS MISSION COMPLETED WITHOUT THEM?" Beep.

This message left Jerry silent for a moment. Then, he spoke. "Did I not give you your gadgets?"  
"You didn't, sir," a nearby WOOHP employee informed him. "They're on the table over there."

Jerry blushed a little. "I'm terribly sorry, spies. I- er- well- how DID you get the mission done without your gadgets, anyhow?"  
Sam held up her lunch box. "My lunch happened to be the perfect substitute. You should know, Jerry. I still remember you agreeing with Leo about how I explained it to him."  
"We forgive you for forgetting our gadgets," Alex added. "If we had to choose any mission for you to forget our gadgets, though, we'd probably choose this one."

Jerry laughed a little. "Well, then. Oh, Sam? Can I have the rest of your lunch to take to the WOOHP gadget labs? You know, for research purposes? I'm amazed at how well it worked."  
"Sure. Here's my lunch box. I need the box and both thermoses back, though."

01:38 PM - BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL  
We arrived back at the cafeteria right before the end-of-lunch bell sounded. Mandy had already finished eating, and by now was almost fast asleep. She woke with a start and began strolling to the door as if nothing was wrong.  
I know a good practical joke opportunity when I see one. As Mandy passed an open trash can, I grabbed the can and dumped it on her head. Every other student burst out laughing.  
Mandy's reaction was no different than usual: "LEO!"

AFTER SCHOOL - SAM'S HOUSE  
Sam rang the doorbell of her house. "Mom! I'm home from school!"  
Her mother let Sam in. "Welcome home, honey. Did you enjoy your lunch?"  
"I liked it. I'm glad you went to the trouble of making it for me, Mom. You should make me lunch again someday."

-  
THE END

So, what do you think? 


End file.
